jose@jose

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★Oct 2

Oh what a game this was. I still remember it like it was yesterday. This was one of my peak experiences watching football on television. Before the game there was a lot of talk from the Croatian National team and that made for a hell of a motivator for the Mexicans. You could feel the tension from both teams in the first half with a couple of squabbles and hard challenges. One thing about this Mexico squad was that it had chemistry, the midfield was stacked and the duo of Peralta and Dos Santos understood each other well. One strategy from the get go was set-pieces and you can tell very well that Miguel Herrera worked on this because the crosses were hard and precise towards the goalkeeper’s box. This is how the brilliant first goal came from Rafa Marquez after multiple attempts with the same play (very reminiscent of what Arsenal does today). The second goal came off another brilliant play from Peralta and Chicharito which ended in an assist from Peralta to Guardado for the banging goal. After this it seemed like Croatia was starting to pick up the pace, but the same corner-kick tactic was successfully used by Mexico once more which led to a goal by Chicharito. At this point I was levitating into the clouds, it was great goal after great goal and I couldn’t have been happier. Of course, not everything was sunshine and rainbows. After a brilliant play from Croatia, Perišić scored a wonderful goal. This obviously made everyone nervous, but Mexico didn’t let their nerves get the best of them and sealed the victory! Incredible atmosphere, performance, pushing, shoving, intensity, great goals, questionable referee calls, what more can anyone want from a game? I will forever remember this game because it was that damn good, I hope whoever didn’t see it at least goes out of their way to watch some highlights.

Player of the match

Rafael Álvarez

Mexico

P

pavaovp@pavaovp

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★Apr 29

Mexico smashed us when in the last half an hour

Player of the match

Rafael Álvarez

Mexico